As a disabled person, you have rights to protect you from discrimination. These rights cover most areas including:
- employment
- education
- dealing with the police
The Equality Act 2010 and the United Nations (UN) Convention on disability rights help to enforce, protect and promote your rights.
Employment:
It’s against the law for employers to discriminate against you because of a disability. The Equality Act 2010 protects you and covers areas including:
- application forms
- interview arrangements
- aptitude or proficiency tests
- job offers
- terms of employment, including pay
- promotion, transfer and training opportunities
- dismissal or redundancy
- discipline and grievances
Education:
It’s against the law for a school or other education provider to treat disabled students unfavourably. This includes:
- direct discrimination, for example refusing admission to a student because of disability
- indirect discrimination, for example only providing application forms in one format that may not be accessible
- discrimination arising from a disability, for example a disabled pupil is prevented from going outside at break time because it takes too long to get there
- harassment, for example a teacher shouts at a disabled student for not paying attention when the student’s disability stops them from easily concentrating
- victimisation, for example suspending a disabled student because they’ve complained about harassment
Police:
If you’re being questioned or interviewed at a police station you have certain rights depending on your impairment.
To find out more please click here
Updated 25/08/2021